Since its founding in 1985, Hospitality House of Charlotte has met and adapted to the needs of patients and families traveling to the Queen City for world-class and often life-sustaining medical care. And, in 2021, this deserving organization received an EmpoWWer service grant from Wray Ward to help tell its critical story.

In 2021 alone, Hospitality House served 1,631 guests facing a wide variety of illnesses or injuries including:

• 350 battling cancer

• 193 awaiting or recovering from an organ transplant

• 193 receiving cardiac care

• 156 with a child in neonatal care

• 100 facing trauma or in an intensive care unit

• 97 in need of neurological treatment

• 96 recovering from surgery

• 59 who received a blood or marrow transplant

Battling a life-altering illness is a feat that takes a village. But against the backdrop of a pandemic, in a city (Charlotte) growing exponentially, patients’ and families’ need for a safe, reliable and accessible place to rest their heads while going through treatment is greater than ever before.

“A lot of times, patients can tend to feel defined by their diagnosis, but here, it’s like they’re coming home,” said Hospitality House Executive Director Angie Bush. “It’s part of our empathetic approach and our core values that revolve around community, commitment and compassion. All of our guests have a common goal of healing, and that is unifying.”

Hospitality House has an admirable mission and compassionate team, and that’s partly why Wray Ward selected the organization to receive an EmpoWWer service grant. Like our friends at Hospitality House, we believe a person’s ZIP code shouldn’t control their health outcomes, and we were eager to lean in and support them with a website redesign that helps elevate how Charlotte welcomes those in need to our city.

“A new website equates to access for our guests, volunteers and donors,” said Hospitality House Development Manager Abby Kleber.

Our team partnered with Hospitality House to build a warm and welcoming website that is thoughtful, engaging and informative for the organization’s primary audiences. Features include:

• A theme that embodies the look and feel of Hospitality House’s welcoming facility and culture

• Optimized navigation ​​to create a clearer, more concise user path

• Content designed to make information easy for patients, donors, volunteers and partners to find

“It’s been so heartwarming to our whole team to see how much you guys took on our mission and became an extended part of our team,” said Hospitality House Community Engagement Manager Kristen Cresante.

Want to lend a hand? By spreading the word about Hospitality House of Charlotte, you can help rally support, resources and volunteers in welcoming guests to the Queen City.

“I know the need for our services will continue to grow, and we will grow to meet those needs,” Bush said. “In the future, I would love to see expansion of the services we provide as well as our capacity, as we currently have to turn away referrals due to limitations.”

Do you know of a deserving nonprofit organization in the Charlotte area that could potentially benefit from Wray Ward’s EmpoWWer service-grant program? Applications for 2022 will be accepted through December 31, 2021. Learn more and apply. For questions regarding EmpoWWer, email empowwer@wrayward.com.